Inside the Phillies with MLB.com beat writer Todd Zolecki

Two More Steps to Go

Cole Hamels pumped his fist and high-fived a few teammates before he coolly headed to the visitor’s clubhouse last night at Great American Ball Park.

There would be no pile up on the field.

The Phillies hope that comes later.

“We know what we’re trying to do here,” Jayson Werth said following their victory over the Reds in Game 3 of the NLDS. “We’ve got two more celebrations.”

The Phillies swept the Reds to advance to their third consecutive NLCS, which begins Saturday at Citizens Bank Park against the Giants or Braves.

“To be honest it feels like we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing,” Brad Lidge said. “This is an incredible run we’re on, but we feel like this is what we need to be doing. This is what we should be doing.”

The Phillies popped a few bottles of champagne after the game, but they kept things relatively calm. Things have changed since they won their first NL East championship in 14 years in 2007. The Rockies swept them in the 2007 NLDS, so they went a little crazy when they beat the Brewers in four games in the 2008 NLDS.

That victory over the Brewers represented a gigantic hurdle.

They have cleared that hurdle a few times now.

“We’re a veteran group of guys,” Werth said. “We weren’t always that way. As much time as we spend together and the type of guys we have on this team, I would say that’s what you can expect from us, you know?”

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The Zo Zone is on Facebook and Twitter. My Phillies book “The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly” is available online, and at Delaware Valley bookstores!

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11 Comments

has any team ever gone 11-0 in the playoffs? So far both the Yucks and the Phillies have swept. Gonna be an interesting series against the Braves/Giants. Guess it’ll be HOH again. Now if only the offence would show up as well as the pitching

Who do the Phillies want to play next? I vote for Atlanta. Let them have to play five games during which their pitchers had to play on short rest at least twice and maybe three occasions. The lose of Wagner doesn’t hurt either. And, there is the matter of another west coast trip should their series go 5 games.

Pherris: You’re probably right logically, however, I don’t want Cox to get in to the NLCS. I want his chokers to go home for a long winter and think about how to catch the ball. I’d rather face the GIants and beat them 4 straight!!

I’m sure we’d all like to play the Braves, but that ship sailed on the glove of Brooks Conrad. I just don’t see that lineup beating Lincecum, if it comes to that. I hope the Braves can at least win today so the Giants have to use Linceum on Wednesday. That would keep him out of the NLCS until game 3. He is the only guy out there who can match up with H2O.

FYI….
According to a story in his hometown newspaper, authorities in Florida have dropped the cocaine possession charge against Phillies prospect Tyson Gillies.

Gillies faced the charge after hs arrest on Aug. 20 for an incident that occurred on June 11 in Clearwater, where he had been rehabbing a hamstring injury that plagued him throughout the season.

Kevin Hayslett, a high-profile Tampa attorney who represents Gillies, told the Kamloops (British Columbia) Daily News that the state attorney’s office has decided not to proceed with the case.

A Phillies spokesman would not confirm the report that the charge has been dropped, saying the organization was not in a position to comment yet.

“I’m very glad that this ordeal is over,” Gillies told the newspaper. “But I’m still very upset that it happened to me and that my character, which I’ve worked so hard to build, can even be questioned.”

The incident in question occurred on June 11, when a police officer saw Gillies waving his shirt at traffic and offered to give him a ride back to his hotel. After Gillies exited the police car, the officer found a small bag of white powder on the floor of the car that was later determined to be cocaine.

Gillies told the Kamloops Daily News that he was drug tested five hours after the incident and that the test came back negative.

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